Trail Runner Injured By Bear

A jogger was injured on Sunday morning in an encounter with a grizzly bear while running on a backcountry trail on the park’s west side. Thomas Nerison, 60, of Kalispell, Montana, reported that he had been bitten by a grizzly bear at about 9:45 a.m. while he was running on the Lake McDonald Valley Trail in Lake McDonald Valley.  Nerison told an investigating ranger that he was running northeast on the trail about one to one-and-a- half miles from the Avalanche Lake trailhead when he heard what he described as the sound of a dog barking, then galloping horses coming up the trail behind him. Nerison said he had just enough time to turn around and get about a foot off the trail when he saw what he estimated to be two 250-pound grizzly bears running toward him. Nerison said that he believed the bears were running from something that had startled them and that one of the bears stopped in close proximity to him. He kicked the bear, then fell down. The bear bit him twice as he continued to kick and poke the bear with sticks. The bear soon lost interest in him, moved away, then went uphill from the trail. Nerison walked downhill and cross country to the Going-to-the-Sun Road, where he got a ride from a visitor back to his own car at the Avalanche trailhead.  He then drove himself to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s emergency room, where he received medical treatment. During an interview after the incident, Nerison told a ranger that he normally carries bear spray, but that he did not have it with him on this occasion.